You download the free Uber app and request rides, either from a driver charging a fare or with another user. When you hop out, there’s no need to dig for toonies because the trip is charged to your credit card.

After being frozen out of Calgary’s market, a global taxi-hailing app tried a soft-serve approach Friday to get the public on its side: delivering ice cream. Uber Inc. is a car-hire service that allows users to request and pay for rides through their mobile phones. Founded in 2009, the San Francisco-based company operates in 41 countries. Its cities include Toronto and Montreal — but not Calgary.

A city councillor who had planned to push for the addition of hundreds of new taxi licences in an effort to address Calgary’s peak-hour cab woes has backed down in the face of criticism from drivers. Coun. Ray Jones — who last month said he would soon bring forward a notice of motion calling for the creation of 310 new taxi licences — said he has decided to hold off after being “inundated” with calls from cab drivers.

Calgary’s newest taxi company is about to head into the busy Stampede period with one simple pledge — to pick up the phone. “You can try our phone lines, and you’ll never get a busy signal,” said Calgary United Cabs president Rupinder Gill at the company’s grand opening ceremony Sunday. “Even if it’s going to take half an hour to get you a cab, someone will answer the phone and let you know.”

Taxi drivers and executives shouted their disdain Friday about forcing all cabs into late-night service, but Calgary’s chief regulator still plans to impose that rule if he doesn’t hear any better solutions to peak-period cab shortages. At a committee hearing, cab industry members got emotional, personal and coarse about the potential upheaval taxi services manager Marc Halat’s idea would wreak.

With the city’s taxi regulator asking all cabs to operate around weekend bar closing times, industry leaders say the solution to peak-time shortages lies well beyond more cab availability. City officials should also look at deploying more transit late at night, ask bars to close at staggered hours or issue part-time licenses, they say.

Calgary Transit’s latest hiring campaign could trigger a school bus driver shortage for the city’s two largest school boards. The city’s transit department needs to find new operators to fill gaps created by attrition and additional service hours.

Calgarians already waiting extra long for a taxi during the holiday rush might be livid to learn that cabbies could be avoiding their calls. City officials tracking the movement of more than 1,400 taxis — nearly the entire fleet — say they found that drivers spent a third of their time during one summer month avoiding customer calls, breaking municipal rules and causing longer waits for fares.

A San Francisco-based technology company says it wants to bring its ride-summoning mobile app to Calgarians, but needs City Hall to change its taxi and limousine regulations first. Uber — which was founded in 2009 and now operates in 50 cities around the world, including Toronto and Montreal — is a car-hire service that allows users to request and pay for rides via their mobile phones. Unlike FastCab, a locally developed mobile app that connects clients with Calgary taxis, Uber typically partners with black sedan services in metropolitan areas to offer a more upscale ride. The app has many features, including the ability to get a quote by entering pickup and drop-off locations, and to charge a fare directly to a stored credit card account.

The founder of a smartphone app that helps Calgarians to hail cabs is launching a new taxi fleet in the city. Jeff Doepker hopes to have 50 vehicles on the streets by fall. People will be able to use the FastCab app or call dispatch directly for pickup.

Wrangling a ride home from the Calgary Stampede may be easier with plans transforming a lane of Macleod Trail into a massive taxi cab queue to ease the nighttime cab crunch. A new strategy to improve taxi service during each night of Stampede aims to use the right-hand northbound lane of Macleod Trail for a three-block lineup of waiting taxis south of 15th Avenue S.E. The cabs would be available there between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Mass transportation to and from the Boston area was virtually shut down Friday as police conducted a massive manhunt for one of two suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing. The exception was air travel, as planes took off and landed at Logan International Airport.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.